My thoughts on ‘Hirunaka No Ryuusei’

Summary – Suzume Yosano has lived deep in Japan’s countryside all her life until she’s forced to move to Tokyo to stay with her uncle. A new city, a new crowd, and a new tall, dark haired peculiar stranger that just happens to be her homeroom teacher.
Daytime Shooting Star is about a young girl’s experience of the heartbeat of first love, and the agony of what comes after. *Source Mangafox

My thoughts – Before I start with my thoughts on this Manga, let me tell you beforehand, I knew about the ending right from the beginning. To be honest the ending was what made me think “I need to read this Manga”. So there are chances that my review is biased. Deal with it okay. 🙂

Okay so how do I put it, I don’t know if words will do justice expressing my feeling for this Manga. To me, ‘Hirunaka no Ryuusei’ was probably one the most wonderful Manga I’ve come across till now. It was not just another typical shoujo Manga with full of cliche stuffs, rather it was matured and more realistic. The way every single pages of this Manga touched the deepest parts of my heart, the way it made me cry over fictional characters, I don’t remember when was the last time I felt like this while reading a Manga online.

The name of the Manga ‘Hirunaka No Ryuusei’, which means daytime shooting start, itself had a lot of meaning in the Manga. Suzume Yosano, the main female character of the Manga was an adorable brave girl, who moved to Tokyo from the countryside. With the passing of time she fell in love with her homeroom teacher Shishio. To Suzume, Shishio was like a daytime shooting star. The whole ‘falling in love for the first time’ thing was so beautifully executed that it still aches my heart. The story may not seem anything extraordinary, main girl falling in love with the main guy, what was so different about it? The ans is, it was the beautiful execution of the plot. It was a story that made readers realize that it’s okay to move on in life and find new love.

The love between Suzume & Shishio was portrayed as an unrequited one. (Though I personally do not think, when it comes to true love, the age difference or the whole student/teacher thing should be a big deal). Suzume kept on chasing him, but due to their differences between them it didn’t work out and her heart was broken. That’s when the story got a new turn. Mamura, who was an interesting & solid character from the very beginning, who was always there for Suzume … got past through the friend-zone and helped Suzume move on with her life holding his hand. And together they made their love a successful one. It was beautiful, sweet, emotional, innocent & matured. If the manga was an typical one, things would’ve been different, cause come on every shoujo Manga has triangle love stories, but we more or less know that the main characters are gonna end up together at the end. But HNR showed a whole new different scenery and hats off to Author Yamamori Mika for this.

When you cry for fictional characters to the point that your eyes get swollen, I think that pretty much means that the character development was a success. I loved every single character from the Manga. Suzume, the brave young extroverted girl, naive when it comes to love, I loved her. I loved her when she fell in love for the first time, I loved her when she was suffering with a broken heart, I loved her more when she decided to move on with her life and I loved her the most when she finally found out whom she truly loved. Letting go of the feelings & memories of her first love was not easy for her, but coming in terms with her true feelings was also necessary. She did that, moved forward and that’s how she found TRUE love at the end.

Mamura was my most fav character. He was in love with Suzume from the very beginning and his feelings for her was honest and clear. He tried to be there for her when she needed support the most. He held her when she was on the verge of breaking down and also had the courage let her go to give her the freedom to decide for herself, the latter one just made me love him even more. He MADE her fall in love with him, what can be better than this?

What can I say about Shishio … I’ll probably tear up again. 😦 Yes I wanted Mamura & Suzume to be together but the ending of the manga literately just ripped my heart out. He had to sacrifice & suffer a lot. He had his reasons obviously, he was not true to his feelings and didn’t have determination to go beyond the boundary to be with Suzume. That’s where he fell behind in comparison to Mamura.

The art was just drop dead gorgeous. I’ve been a fan of Yamamori Mika’s works from the time I started reading Tsubaki Chou Lonely Planet and I was not expecting anything less. 🙂

Final thoughts –

Positive – Beautifully written ‘Shoujo’ love story with a matured tone similar to a ‘Josei’ one, Perfect character development, Awesome side characters, Gorgeous artwork.